Portraits of Jesus

A Reading Guide

This is an introductory guide to the ways Jesus is depicted in the New Testament. Both college students and the general reader will find here a variety of New Testament understandings of Jesus that are rooted in critical reading of the four Gospels and Pauline letters. The authors of the four Gospels show considerable freedom in their handling of the words and deeds associated with Jesus. New Testament authors are not so much news reporters as promoters of Christian living. They shape their material to highlight who Jesus is and how to live according to his teaching and example. This work presumes neither religious faith nor lack of faith; its aim is to inform and to stimulate some fundamental questions as well as to give the readers portraits as synthetic balance to the vital work of analysis. At best this book should be read with a copy of the New Testament at hand to answer questions and to challenge the assertions of reader and author.